Racing the Clock
by coldfiredragon
Summary: The BAU is called in to stop a serial killer but when Reid disappears the remaining members of the team are trapped in a dangerous race against time to find him before the killer strikes again.
1. Prologue

**This is the first chapter of what I hope will be a well received story. I love Criminal Minds. It's an amazing show. Sadly there just isn't enough fanfiction centering on it yet. I'm helping to change that. :D **

**This is the necessary disclaimer. I don't own any part of Criminal Minds or the characters associated with the show. **

**I love reviews. I know there are a few Criminal Minds authors and fans out there so I expect everyone of you to review.

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Gideon leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes before returning to rereading the newest case that had landed on his desk. He was exhausted and he knew that the rest of his team was exhausted as well. Unfortunately they would have to go out in the field again. He cursed and threw the file back on his desk. It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't just gotten back from another case the night before.

The last week had been hell as they had struggled to find an unsub who was kidnapping and sexually abusing high school girls before killing them and dumping their bodies. The guy should have been easy to find but he hadn't been. There was no criminal record before the incidents started and all the team had to go on was the pattern of the victims. They had managed to narrow the search area and had found several girls who might be the unsub's next targets. From that point on it had become a waiting game to see which one of the potentials the unsub would try to kidnap. They had managed to catch him when he made his move.

The ordeal had left the whole team exhausted and Gideon knew that the others had been looking forward to catching up on their sleep in their own beds for a change. Now they would have to sleep on the plane as they flew to California to find their newest unsub. He picked up the case file and began flipping through it for the third time. He had a bad feeling about this case and for good reason.

The first two killings had been thought to be unrelated but when a third victim had been found dead the officials involved had noticed the pattern and had sent word to the FBI that they needed a higher level of expertise. The killer was clearly following a pattern and it was the profile of the various victims that made him nervous. All of the victims were males, between the ages of 22 and 26, and honor students enrolled in various graduate programs at UC Berkeley. Each of the victims had also been at or near the top of his class. In short the victims were too much like Reid. Spencer was the youngest member of his team and the older profiler was a little worried about how Reid would respond to the case. In a lot of ways he considered Spencer like a son. The younger man was enthusiastic and brilliant but clueless at the same time and his qualities had quickly endeared him to the rest of the team. With another sigh Gideon dropped his copy of the file back on top of the pile and scooped the pile into his arms in order to give it to the others. They wouldn't be happy but it couldn't be helped.

The second he walked into the main office with the stack of files the more vocal members of the team immediately started complaining.

"Gideon you have got to be kidding, we just got back last night. We can't have another case this soon." Gideon glared mildly at Morgan as he dropped one of the copies on his desk. When he had passed them all out he stood back to watch the reactions. They were exactly as he had expected. As they read through the profile the others cast quick glances at Reid to see how he was handling it. Reid, for his part, was oblivious as he started reading through the case for the second time.

Realizing that things would get uncomfortable if they remained silent for much longer he spoke. "I want to leave as soon as possible. You guys can head home and get your stuff." The others nodded and started collecting their things but Reid obviously hadn't heard him. Gideon waited by the door while Elle, Hotch, and JJ slipped past him into the hall. JJ would be staying on site to help them when they were in the field but Elle had silently indicated that she should leave for now as well. Gideon knew that Hotch wanted to spend a least a few minutes with his wife and son before they left again so his quick departure was understandable. Morgan took slightly longer to gather his things but he too left quickly and Reid still hadn't reacted. When it was only the two of them Gideon walked over and took a seat across from Reid. He could see that Reid was looking at some of the crime scene photos.

"Reid?" The younger man was torn from his thoughts by the sound of Gideon's voice.

"Huh?" Reid looked up and suddenly realized that the others had left. A slight blush immediately spread across his cheeks but just as quickly died as his eyes dropped back to the file on his desk. It was clear to Gideon that the case bothered him, just as he had expected it would.

"If you want to talk you know who to come to." Reid nodded silently as he started gathering his things. Gideon noticed that the younger man was making an effort not to look at him and that hurt. The idea that Reid might not trust him cut at him like a knife but he let it slide for now. He would just have to keep his eye on him for the duration of the case and if we noticed that Reid was having problems then he would have to intervene.

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**Okay review time everyone. I take great pride in responding to every review I receive. Let me know what you think.**


	2. Chess

**This is the second chapter of what has become anincredibly well received story. I am overjoyed to have received 16 reviews in such a short period. Sadlythe story has received about180 hits so that means thatonly about 10 of you arereviewing. I would love for that total to bemuch much higher. I love Criminal Minds and I want to know that there are people out there who love it as much as I do. I also want to know whatI'm doing right and especially what I'm doing wrong. If I have a character's personality off a little bit I want to hear about it. The chapterscanonly be written faster if I receive a good stream of continued interest. If Ihave not responded to your review yet don't worry I will get to them. I have done over half of themso far and the only ones I haven't responded to are the ones Ihavegotten in the last two days.:D **

**This is the necessary disclaimer. I don't own any part of Criminal Minds or the characters associated with the show. Please don't sue I have only my Katamari games and my PS2 to give you and I will defend the Katamari with my life. **

**I love reviews. I know there are a few Criminal Minds authors and fans out there so I expect everyone of you to review.

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After Reid had gone home Gideon quickly returned to his apartment and gathered his things. One of the difficulties with the cases they covered was never knowing exactly how long they would be gone. Their shortest cases had lasted less then a day but longer cases could last more then a week. Never knowing made packing difficult and he had learned years ago to pack clothing that was easy to care for and matched with everything else.

He packed quickly and even though he had been the last to leave the office he was the first one to get back. As he waited he reread the case and reviewed the crime scene photos. Elle was the first to show up. As she entered the office he acknowledged her as she took a seat at her desk. They remained in a companionable silence for a few minutes before Elle spoke.

"How is Reid?" Gideon looked up from his report to meet her eyes.

"Reid is acting like he always does. He doesn't want to admit if he has a problem. He doesn't want us to think he can't handle something and he going to try to prove that he can by handling whatever is bothering him by himself." Elle nodded.

"So what you are saying is to keep an eye on him but let him work it out on his own?" Gideon nodded.

"Yeah I'm not to worried about him right now. He's stronger than we give him credit for so just let him work it out on his own. If it becomes clear that he can't handle things we will worry about that when it happens."

As Gideon finished Hotch and Morgan walked into the office. Morgan was still complaining about the short notice of their newest assignment while Hotch seemed to be listening and indulging the younger man as necessary.

"When are we leaving?" Gideon shifted his gaze from Elle to Hotch, leave it to Hotch to be all business.

"As soon as Reid gets back. I want to get to California find this the killer and get back here. We all need a rest."

"You've got that right Gideon." The older profiler turned to look at Morgan who had practically thrown himself into the chair behind his desk and was now resting with one foot propped upon it. "I can't believe we have to go back out this soon. We deserve a break sometimes too."

"I'm not any happier about this then you are but we all just have to deal with it and make sure we don't get sloppy. I want to wrap this up as fast as possible so everybody needs to stay sharp." The other three nodded and went about their own devices as they waited for Reid to show up. When he did show up he looked a little flustered and slightly out of breath. When he realized that the others had been waiting on him he looked a little ashamed. It was clear to Gideon that Reid felt that he was holding the team back. This wasn't new for Reid. He was the youngest of the team and he constantly worked hard to prove that he was worth their time. Gideon has reassured him numerous times that he doing fine but it never really seemed to pacify Reid.

The rest of the preparations for their trip passed quickly from that point and as the others were getting their luggage together to take it to the plane Gideon caught up with Reid and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. The young man flinched slightly but Gideon had expected that. He knew that no matter how comfortable Reid appeared around the team we was still uncomfortable when one of them touched him. It was an ingrained reflex and Gideon wondered what had happened in the young man's past to make him so adverse to gentle contact. Despite his curiosity he respected Reid's privacy too much to ask. He figured that Reid would talk about it when he was ready to talk about it and not before. It was not an issue he was going to push.

Knowing that he had Reid's attention he removed his hand and watched as the young man seemed to relax once again.

"What do you need?" Gideon was surprised when Reid actually spoke first. On occasions like this he usually waited for Gideon to speak to him. He only spoke first when he was irritated about something and that didn't happen often.

"You don't have to prove anything to us Reid. You are a good agent and we all respect that so don't worry about trying to impress us. Just do your job, that's all I'm asking." Reid didn't look at him but he nodded and Gideon left it at that. He had made his point and hopefully that would put Reid at ease for the flight to California.

The flight was as quiet as Gideon had expected it to be. Like he had expected the others on his team slept for most of the flight and he took the time to observe them. Elle and Hotch were sitting together near the front of the passenger compartment. They had been talking quietly earlier in the flight but had chosen to get some rest while they could.

Morgan was sitting near the middle of the plane with his feet propped on the seat in front of him. His tie was loose and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows and he had his copy of the case was spread out around him from where he had been reading it earlier and trying to catch any detail he had missed earlier. At some point that Gideon had missed he had passed into what appeared to be a peaceful slumber.

Reid was the only member of the team besides Gideon that was still awake. This didn't surprise Gideon. Reid was usually the one to be awake when all the others were asleep. At first the minimal amount of sleep that the young genius seemed to get had amazed Gideon. He hadn't thought it possible for anyone to go with so little sleep but Reid did it on a regular basis.

Without giving further thought to Reid's ability to avoid sleeping Gideon picked up the box that held the team's chess board and pieces and walked toward the back of the plane where Reid usually sat. The young man looked up as he approached and Gideon held up the game.

"Want to play a game or two? The others are asleep and it is going to be a long flight." Reid nodded and Gideon took a seat across from the young man. As he pulled out the pieces he glanced up at Reid. "White or black?" He figured Reid would take white like he normally did but was surprised when Reid turned the tables on him.

"Black this time around." Gideon gave him a quizzical look that Reid didn't respond to before passing the box with the remaining pieces over to Reid. The young man set up his side of the board and they began to play. It quickly became obvious to Gideon that Reid's mind was not on the game. When he had beaten him for the second time in less than a half an hour he finally gave up and looked up at Reid.

"Are you okay?" Reid stared at the chessboard for a few more seconds before sighing in frustration and leaning back in his seat.

"I will be when this case is over. I don't really know why it bothers me so much and I've been trying to figure it out."

"We all have cases that bother us more than others. It goes with the job. Certain things strike closer to home than others do. Believe me I've had cases that still bother me even years later. It happens to all of us. Does that make sense?" Reid nodded wearily and leaned his head against the seat.

"It bothers me though, I feel that I shouldn't feel anything, like it is my job to remain apart from all of it even though I'm directly involved." Gideon sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Pushing our emotions away is the worst thing we can do because eventually they build up to the point that we can't deal with them. You also can't be too emotional when dealing with a case. Just be careful not to build your walls too high." He stood up and grabbed a blanket from the seat beside him which he then threw to Reid. "Try and get some sleep, if you need to talk I'll listen. You can trust me and I'll help you through it as best I can." Reid nodded and slowly wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. When Gideon was sure that Reid had fallen asleep he turned down the lights surrounding the youth.

In that instant Gideon saw a kid who was way too young to have so much responsibility on his shoulders. Reid had never looked so young to him before and Gideon wondered if he really had the right to expect so much from one so young. He pushed the thoughts away as quickly as they formed. Reid was a good profiler, one of the best he had ever seen and he would only get better as he got more experience. It was his job as a senior profiler to make sure that Reid, and the rest of the team, learned as much from him as possible. With those thoughts in mind Gideon packed up the chessboard and made his way toward the seat he had occupied before. When he reached it he turned down the cabin lights that surrounded his own area of the plane and drifted into sleep.

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**That is the second chapter, I hope everyone chooses to tell me how good, or bad, it was in a review. Everyone needs to review, I want to have more than a 10 review rate. PLEASE help me do that. Please be sure to sign in when you do review. I want to reply to my reviews and thank each of you for reviewing. Thanks in advance guys and I will try to have the next chapter up in a couple days.**


	3. Profile

**This is the necessary disclaimer for chapter three of 'Racing the Clock'. I don't own'Criminal Minds' and I make no money from this story. Please don't sue me because I have nothing but my laptop and video games. **

**Let me say to every one of my reviewers that I love you all and your response so far has been amazing. Everyone who hasn't gotten a reply back from their review will get one and if you have already gotten one and receive another please disregard the second one. I kinda lost count of who I got back to and who I didn't. Just bear with me and I promise to be a little quicker with the next chapter of the story. Keep reviewing and you will make me a very happy writer.**

**Now on to the newest chapter of my slowing growing plot. Things will really pick up in the next couple of chapters so stay with me. Thanks in advance to all who review.**

**_Quick Note: Several of you mentioned that Hotch is the leader of the team, not Gideon, I realized that_ _mistake after I wrote chapter 2 and rather than go back and change what I had already written I just incorporated my mistake and made them sorta like co-leaders of the team. Hotch does have a new baby afterall and I think he would welcome some help with running the team. Just for the record though I know that Hotch is the leader while Gideon is the senior profiler so I hope I address that issue to the extent that everyone is happy._**

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Reid didn't sleep for as long as Gideon had hoped he would. Within an hour he was awake. He immediately noticed that the others were still sleeping and decided to do what he always did when the others were asleep and he was not. He leaned his seat back and started staring at the ceiling of the plane. It was a habit he had developed as a child. As far back as he could remember he would lie and stare at the ceiling whenever he needed to think.

Currently he could not stop thinking about their newest case. It was too personal and hit too close to home. He was 24 and if he hadn't been as intelligent as he was he would still most likely be in grad school, just like the students who were being killed. A chill passed down his spine and he rubbed his eyes in agitation. Gideon's words from earlier still hung fresh in his mind but they brought him little comfort. He knew that he could turn to Gideon if he needed to and he trusted Gideon. The man was his mentor and the person he tried the most to impress. In many ways, however, it was harder to talk to the older profiler because of that relationship. He wanted Gideon to see him as capable and intelligent not as emotionally unable to do his job.

It was during times like this that Reid hated being the youngest member of the team. He didn't have he experience that the others did which would allow him to numb his emotions to a point. He knew that Gideon was right about not pushing his feelings too far away. Throughout his life Reid had dealt with his inability to interact socially. His intelligence had always set him apart from the kids he went to school with and he had been on the receiving end of more beatings than he could count. His fellow students had constantly picked on him and for many years he had hated them. Things had gotten slightly better when he started college but he was still the youngest in his year and despite his best attempts to ignore them he still heard the whispers from the other students when they thought he wasn't listening.

Being accepted into the FBI had been a dream come true. He had spent his first year working in the lab before his supervisor had recommended that he interview for a position within the BAU. He had never expected for Hotch to actually hire him but he had gladly accepted the offer when it came. When he had found out that he would get to work with Gideon he had been elated. Reid had followed the older agent's career since grad school and he was more than happy to hang on the man's every word. Gideon had noticed and was impressed enough with him that he had taken him under his wing.

Reid yawned and stretched as best he could without moving from his seat. He was getting sleepy again but he wasn't sure that trying to sleep would do him much good. Despite having been on the team for a while he had still not fully adjusted to sleeping on the plane. He expected that the ability would come with time but he hadn't mastered it yet. Even though he probably wouldn't sleep long he committed himself to at least attempting sleep and moved his seat back into a reclining position. It took a while but he did eventually manage to drift back to sleep.

He did not awaken again until Hotch gently shook him awake to tell him that the pilot was ready to begin their descent.

Less than an hour later Agent Aaron Hotchner stepped out of one of the cars that had been provided to his team when they arrived at the airport. The FBI had provided him with 2 cars for the time being with more promised should they be necessary. The team had packed their supplies into one of the cars which left the other to transport the majority of the team to the police station nearest the Berkeley campus.

He and Gideon had opted to ride in the car with the supplies while the younger members of the team piled into the other car. The ride to the station had given he and Gideon the opportunity to talk privately about the case. Despite being the leader of the team Hotch gave Gideon an almost equal role in running the team, especially since Haley had given birth a couple of months before. He hated leaving his wife alone to raise their son and Jason had seemed to catch on to his desire to spend as much time as possible with his wife and son.

Despite the freedom he gave Gideon Hotch was still the team leader. It was his responsibility to make sure that things ran as smoothly as possible. That was why the first thing he asked Jason when they were alone was about Reid. The recount of the events on the plane put him on edge a bit but he trusted Gideon to understand Reid better than he did. When he had brought Reid onto the team he had never expected that Gideon would take Reid under his wing as he had done. The two of them worked well together and Gideon seemed to have a decent understanding of how Reid's mind worked so Hotch decided to trust that Gideon would keep an eye on his young protege and report to him if there were any problems.

From that point their conversation had turned from Reid to the case and the possible motivations of the unsub. They really couldn't form a detailed profile until they reached the station and inspected the evidence that the officers had collected but they could theorize on what they did know. Hotch had realized through years of experience that it never hurt to explore many options as quickly as possible.

When they finally reached the station Hotch was the first out of the car. As he waited for the rest of the team to assemble he looked around the parking lot towards the station. It was the dead of winter and it was unusually cold for California weather. The cold was probably due to the overcast rainy weather and he guessed the temperature to be somewhere in the mid to high 40s. If he remembered correctly from the weather report he and Gideon had heard while they were driving it was supposed to stay like this for the next week.

Seeing that the others were ready Hotch took point and led the group into the station. As they entered the girl behind the desk stood and stopped them. Hotch held up his badge and introduced himself and the young woman called her boss. Seconds later she waved them into the actual station where they were met by the station's chief. Hotch held up his badge once again and introduced himself.

"I'm Special Agent Hotchner from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. These are the members of my team. Special Agent Gideon, our senior profiler, Special Agents Greenway and Morgan, Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, and Special Agent Jennifer Jareau." The chief stepped forward.

"I'm Officer Jonathan Anton. I'm the senior officer here. I wish we could have met under different circumstances Agent Hotchner." He extended his hand and Hotch gripped it briefly. "I've got all the men I can spare working on this case. We doubled our patrols around the campus after the third victim disappeared. We don't have many leads though. If you will follow me I'll show you what we do have."

He turned and led the team into an investigation room where the crime scene photos had been set up. He pointed out which photos corresponded to what case and walked over to a table where a stack of files was located.

"I have a list of suspects that we started complying. We've started doing background checks but nothing has turned up yet. My officers have also questioned witnesses who found the bodies as well as some school administrators. We didn't get much from the interviews but you are welcome to talk to everyone again. No one we interviewed seemed reluctant to talk and they all told us if we needed anything further to contact them again." Hotch nodded as the others began inspecting the photos that were hanging from the various boards.

"Thanks for your briefing Officer Anton. Give us some time to go over what we have here and I will let you know when we are ready to move on." The officer nodded and left the team to their work.

Hotch turned back to his team to see that they had already gone to work. Gideon and Reid were studying a thick packet of photos collected by the school that featured each of the students. Hotch knew that they were looking for any factor that might link the students together. The major factors in that department that they had so far were the obvious factors of intelligence, and their choice of school. Gideon was hoping that there was another connecting factor that might lead them to a definite group of possible victims. Each of the members of his team knew that if you knew where the unsub was going to strike than it was easier to catch him or her in the act.

Hotch seriously doubted that the attacker they were looking for was a woman. It was his experience that most serial killers were white men, somewhere in their 20s or 30s and they usually attacked women, not men, as the case was here. From the preliminary evidence Hotch was willing to bet that their unsub was older than the typical profile suggested. All the victims, to date, had been no older than 26 which suggested to him that their attacker was probably several years older than his victims. The unsub would need access to detailed information on his intended victims. It was obvious to Hotch that whoever they were dealing with planned his abductions very carefully and knew the routines of his victims by heart. The guy would have to in order to abduct his victims and leave no trace that an abduction had occurred.

The unsub also took his time with his victims once he abducted them. Hotch knew that the unsub kept his victims alive and to be truthful, relatively unharmed. He picked up a copy of the autopsy report for the second victim and paged through it. The fact that the victims were left alive suggested that the unsub wanted to prove that he was powerful and in control of the situation. He wanted to prove to his victims that he controlled their ability to live and die. In such cases the victims that did survive often faced deep emotional and psychological problems during their recovery.

To date their unsub had kidnapped three victims over a three week period. There was about a week between each abduction and if the pattern continued than the body of the third victim would be found soon. Hotch prayed that they would find the student before the unsub killed him but they were working within a narrow window of time and he was doubtful about their chances. He knew that his team would do their best though and that was really mattered. The goal was to catch the unsub and if they could do it before the third student turned up dead than that much the better.

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**Thanks for reading. As you can see I tried to make this chapter longer and I hope everyone enjoyed it. I tried to move the plot along a little but I mainly wanted to focus on developing the profile for my unsub in this chapter. I hope I did a good job. Things should really get moving in the next chapter, I hope they will anyway but I make no promises. I let my stories write themselves so we will just see where my fingers take me as I type. **

**Review and let me know how I did. I appreciate all the fan input I can get. Thanks in advance to all who review.**


	4. three suspects

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of "Criminal Minds" The situations, and characters belong to CBS. **

**Disclaimer 2: This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real world person is strictly coincidental. I've never been to Berkley University, let alone California so I am writing my story with no knowledge of the campus or the people who work there. I know no one who goes there and this story is in no way meant to tarnish that school's reputation. This story is not meant to slander the school in any way, shape, or form. I repeat it is a work of utter fiction and fantasy.**

**ANs: First off let me apologize to every single one of my readers. I know I left you guys hanging for months and I'm sooooooooooo sorry. I have been so busy it hasn't even been funny. **

**I need to say one MAJOR thing about clarification. There have been three bodies found when the BAU team arrives in California. The third body has just been found so the team is waiting for the killer to move against his fourth victim. They don't know who it will be.**

**I love everyone who reviewed, I've gotten a whopping 71 reviews to date! That is incredible considering that this fic has only had 3 chapters. I'm so pleased. Over the next couple of days everyone who reviewed and who hasn't recieved a personal response and thank you from me will get one. I will answer any specific questions which were asked in those reviewer reply mailers.**

**Keep reviewing, I love each review. Now on with the story.

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_Last Time_

_To date their unsub had kidnapped three victims over a three week period. There was about a week between each abduction and if the pattern continued than the unsub would make his move against his fourth victim soon. Hotch prayed that they would find the unsub before he killed again but they were working within a narrow window of time. He knew that his team would do their best though and that was what really mattered. The goal was to catch the unsub and if they could do it before he killed again than all the better._

_Now:_

When the team finished going over the evidence and photos that had been collected by the police they got back together to compare notes. Hotch was pleased to note that his agents had come to much the same conclusions that he had as they developed their ideas about the unsub.

White male, probably mid to late forties, solid build so he could overpower his victims easily, access to the students he killed, a private individual but one that wouldn't be immediately suspected. The list went on along those veins and they decided to break into pairs to cover the most ground as quickly as possible.

JJ would stay with the police and work with their media coordinators as they began to prepare press briefings. Reid and Gideon would go the the campus to speak with Berkley administrators, and Morgan and Elle were going to the crime scene where the body of the third victim had been found. Hotch hoped that their investigation of the scene would give them some clue or who and what they were dealing with but the crime scene was starting to age and their chances of finding viable evidence was reducing by the second.

This arrangement left Hotch solo for the time being and he intended to use the time to familiarize himself with the areas around the homes of the victims and the areas where their bodies were found.

Once the decisions of who was going where had been decided they split up. The drive to the campus in the car that the police had provided was silent. Gideon was behind the wheel and Reid was sitting next to him. Whenever they stopped Gideon would cast quick glances at the younger profiler.

He could tell that the young man was working and reworking the facts of the case in his head and that he clearly did not want to talk while they drove. Normally he would pry Reid for information during times like this but for the time being Gideon decided to leave Reid to his thoughts. He figured that Reid would talk when he was ready and he did not want to push him.

As they finally neared the campus Gideon decided that he had left Reid alone for long enough.

"What are you thinking?"

"Huh?" Spencer had clearly not expected him to speak and was caught off guard by the sudden question.

"Do you have any ideas on what we should be looking for? Gideon had his own ideas but he wanted to hear his younger partner's opinions on the case before voicing his own thoughts.

"I think it is someone working at the university. The unsub needs to have access to information about the students he kills, and he needs to know their patterns. One thing I noticed about all the victims was that they tended to stay late working on projects or using the labs on campus. That was most likely when they were abducted as well."

"That's a good point. It also gives us a point of reference so we can start identifying other possible targets. We just need to cross-reference the study habits of students that match the physical descriptions of our victims. I'll be sure to ask the people we talk to about that when we have our meetings. Who is the first person we are supposed to talk to?" Reid flipped through the thick folder that had been sitting on his lap.

"Maxwell Jacobs, the Dean of the university's graduate division. If I understand correctly from the interviews he did with the police he knew each of the students personally. Anton doesn't seem to think that he is a possible suspect but he would have access to the information about the students and if he knew them personally they would trust him making it easier for him to get close enough to capture them."

"Makes sense. Refresh my mind on the victims and their fields of study please." Gideon already knew this information by heart and he knew that Reid did as well but he wanted to keep the younger agent talking. It allowed him to guage how Reid was handling the situation.

"The first victim was 23 year old Timothy Wexler. He was working on a PhD in neuroscience. The second victim was 26 year old Thomas Canon, the top of his class in the school's linguistics program. He was one of the few students in the country to have fully mastered Arabic. The third victim was 22 year old Nicolas Robertson. He had just been accepted into the business college."

"So there was no connection in their fields of study. At least one that is not immediately evident." Reid nodded. "Did they share a common group of friends?" Reid flipped through some of the files for a moment and shook his head. The three of them were pretty much loners and really didn't associate with many people outside their fields. Thomas was the most socially active of the three but than he also worked with languages so he would have to be." Reid would have continued but at that moment they reached the parking lot outside the school's administration building.

Within minutes Gideon had pulled their car into one of the empty spaces and the two agents were making their way into the building. As they entered Gideon noticed that Reid was trailing slightly behind him but he ignored the young man and approached the reception desk. The young woman behind the desk smiled politely at him until he flashed his FBI badge.

"I am Special Agent Gideon with the FBI. I am here to speak with Dean Jacobs. We have an appointment." The young woman picked up her phone and quickly dialed a number. Reid could hear the soft conversation with who ever it was on the other end of the line and waited patiently until she finished the call. The young woman hung the phone back on its cradle and waved them towards the elevator.

"Dean Jacobs' office is on the fifth floor. Speak to the department secretary and she will direct you from there. Mr. Jacobs is waiting for you." Gideon thanked her and motioned for Reid to follow him. They found the secretary, a woman named Mandy, easily enough and she led them down the hall to the Dean's office.

When they arrived outside the door she knocked softly and was immediately granted permission to enter. As Gideon and Reid followed her inside Dean Jacobs stood and walked around his desk to great them personally. He was not the short mousy book worm that Reid had expected to meet. Instead he was quite the opposite. He was tall and rather broad for a dean but his personality quickly made up for his size.

"You must be Special Agent Gideon. Mandy informed me that you had arrived. I didn't realize there were two of you though. Please excuse my rudeness young man but I'm afraid they didn't tell me your name."

"This is Special Agent Dr. Reid." Jacobs smiled widely at Spencer and extended his hand. Reid shook it politely and couldn't help but feel relaxed by the man's presence.

"I've worked with a lot of bright students while working at this school. It is a pleasure to meet you." He sighed and fell silent for moment before continuing. "I'm very glad you are here gentlemen. These killings are terrible. I knew each of the students personally and loosing them has been extremely hard."

"We understand how you must feel and we are sorry to inconvenience you but we need to ask you a few questions. We know the police have already spoken to you once but we need to do so again for our own records. Are you willing to answer questions for us?" Gideon fell silent as he waited for an answer from the man who had taken a seat across from them.

"Oh course. Ask me anything you would like. I already told the police I would cooperate by any means possible and I meant it."

From that point on the interview continued as so many other interviews had gone. Gideon did most of the questioning and Reid sat back and took notes, both physical and mental about the man before him. Gideon concluded the questioning within an hour and they took their leave.

Once they were back in the car Gideon turned to Reid.

"What did you think of him?" Reid took a second to collect his thoughts before speaking.

"He seems to really care about his students and he seems like a person who is easy to get along with. From his interview it sounds like he has nothing to hide, either he was telling us the truth or he is highly capable of keeping his voice inflection and eye movement normal when he is lying."

Gideon nodded in agreement. He had noticed the same things that Spencer had. The man was innocent or he was an exceptional liar.

"Who are we meeting with next?" Reid flipped through the folder as they waited for the elevator.

"Patrick Barnes, head of the campus police and chief security officer. Our best bet is to try and find him at the campus police station." Gideon stepped into the elevator as it arrived and Reid followed him.

"Okay let's go talk to him then." Gideon said as the doors slid shut and he reached over to hit the button which would take them to the ground floor. As they exited the elevator and walked past the reception desk Reid looked back at the young woman who spoke up as they passed.

"Did you find the dean's office gentleman?" Reid nodded.

"Yes, thank you for your help." She smiled.

"Good, if you ever need anything else just let me know."

"We will, thank you." With that said he followed Gideon out he door and to their car. They reached the building which housed the campus police offices a few minutes later and a process similar to what had occurred in the other building presented itself. The two of them flashed their badges to the building secretary, she called the secretary for Chief Barnes and they were told where to go. The chief had been expecting them because he was waiting for them when they reached his outer office. He immediately came forward and shook Gideon's hand.

"Welcome to my office gentlemen. My name is Patrick Barnes. I have been the chief security officer on this campus for about three years. " He waved towards the office behind him. "Please follow me. We can speak in private in here." As they walked he kept up a steady stream of conversation. "I'm glad you are here. These killings have been simply terrible. I've been busting my tail trying to figure out some connection or predictable pattern that we can use to keep more innocent students from getting hurt but it has been slow going." Once they were all inside he closed the door and gestured to them to take a sit. They did so and Gideon spoke.

"My name is Special Agent Gideon with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. This is another of our agents Special Agent Dr. Reid. We were if your office has gathered any new evidence since you last spoke with the city police?" Barnes shook his head.

"If we had it would have been immediately sent to Chief Anton." Gideon nodded and leaned forward slightly.

"Who has been questioned by your office so far? We were led to understand that you were handling many of the on campus interviews while the city police handled searches and other possible witnesses." The man sitting across from him nodded.

"We have spoke with most of the faculty in the graduate administration offices. They would know the students best. We have also begun talking to faculty who have had the students in the last year and a half. So far we have put together rather extensive files of each victim. Things such as their study habits, their work loads, what research they participated in collecting and who they collected it with, things like that. We are trying to find any connection that will lead us to a possible list of victims or even better the killer himself, or herself. I try not to be gender biased." Gideon nodded.

"We would like to see those files as soon as possible. Don't feel insulted but our unit is trained to look for details that other departments might miss." The officer across from him held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Let me assure you gentlemen that I am in no way offended. To be truthful I'm glad that my unit isn't trained to look for patterns like this. It would make our job so much more difficult if we had to track down serial killers on a regular basis." He reached over and pressed a button on his intercom. After a couple of seconds the device crackled to life and the voice of a young woman could be heard on the other end.

"Yes Mr. Barnes how can I help you?"

"Melissa please contact officer Vryce. Have him bring the files we complied on the recent victims to my office."

"Yes sir." The intercom fell silent once again. Officer Barnes looked over at Reid and Gideon.

"Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink? Coffee, water?" The two agents shook their heads and a silence lapsed between them. Reid used the time to flip through the information they had already gathered and Gideon took the time to study the office they sat in. Officer Barnes for his part, studied the two profilers sitting in his office.

He had expected to meet someone like Gideon. A man who had been on the job for several years and obviously knew his stuff. The younger man confounded him though. He had not expected to be presented with a profiler in his mid twenties. It was quite a shock to see someone so young who wasn't a student sitting across from him, and the young man had been introduced as a doctor to boot. He couldn't have been more than 26 or 27. He was about to question Reid as to where he had attended school when his intercom crackled to life again and Melissa's voice could be heard.

"Officer Vryce has arrived sir. Should I send him in or have him wait until you are ready for him?" Barnes looked over to Gideon who indicated that he should have the man bring the files in now and Barnes relayed the message to his secretary. A few seconds later the handle on the door twisted and the door swung open to admit a muscular, young man in his mid thirties. He was carrying a cardboard box which he almost dropped upon seeing the agents sitting before him.

"I didn't mean to interrupt chief. I didn't know you had visitors. Melissa told me to come on in so I assumed that you were in here alone." The officer's eyes flicked between Gideon, Reid, and his boss quickly and neither Gideon nor Reid noticed when his eyes flicked back to Reid as Barnes spoke.

"It's alright Ethan. Come in. I would like to introduce you to Special Agent Gideon and Special Agent Dr. Reid of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. They are here to help us review the case and hopefully find the guy who attacked those students before he can kill again."

"That's great." Ethan set the box he had been carrying down on a side table and extended his hand to Gideon and Reid. "Hopefully you can catch whoever is doing this. I knew a couple of the students who were attacked." His words peaked Gideon's curiosity and he spoke up.

"How so? You are several years older than the eldest victim." The young man shrugged.

"I work a lot of late night shifts and late night patrols." They stuck around on campus a lot after most students had either gone back their dorms or headed home. You notice people like that when you do late nights checks on the lab buildings and they are still there." Gideon nodded in understanding and filed the information away so it would be there for later use. It might come in handy to have someone who knew the campus nightlife so well.

"You seemed surprised when you walked in and found us. Is everything all right?" The young man nodded again.

"Yeah everything is fine. I honestly thought the office would be empty except for the chief." He turned to officer Barnes. "If this is all you need me for Chief I should get back to work. I'm part of the increased patrol shift you ordered and we are supposed to start our shift shortly." Barnes nodded.

"If we need you for anything I'll have Melissa page you." With a quick nod of respect the younger officer turned and took his leave of the three men. Reid was the first to break the silence.

"He seemed a bit jittery, is he always like that?" Barnes considered his response for a moment before answering.

"Not very often. He was kind of nervous when he was first hired. He is good at what he does though and extremely helpful. He was hired by the university about six months after I started here and he has been my best officer ever since. I works the night shift with Officer Malon. I've never heard him complain once about doing it and as soon as the first student turned up missing he offered to do extra patrols when he wasn't technically on duty. We are sort of stretched for personnel since we have heightened security and I figured a few hours of overtime was a small price to pay if we could keep other students from getting hurt."

The reasoning seemed logical to Gideon who stood and walked over to the box that had been placed on the table. He removed a thick folder and paged through it briefly. He then placed it on the table and proceeded to do the same with the next two folders. Eventually he turned back to Reid and held up the thickest of the three.

"These will be of great help Officer Barnes. Do you mind if we take them back to the station with us?" The man shook his head immediately.

"Do whatever you need with them. I believe we have a duplicate set of copies for our own personal use. If anything turns up we will be sure to let you know." With that Gideon began placing the folders back in the box and when he had finished he picked the box up. Reid stood about the same time and with a nod of farewell to Barnes the two of them left his office.

As they exited into the outer office they could see that Officer Vryce was chatting with the secretary. When he noticed the two of them he immediately approached.

"I just wanted to thank you for coming all the way from Washington to help us out. I hope you can catch the guy. If you need anything at all just give me a call and I'll do whatever I can to help." He held out a piece of paper with a number scribbled on it. "This is my cell phone number. Just call me if you need anything." Reid looked over at Gideon who indicated that he should take the slip of paper. Reid reached out and as he did so Vryce shook his hand, leaving the paper in Reid's hand as he did so. The gesture was definitely odd but man's attitude did nothing to mark him as anything but helpful and polite. Once he had given Reid the paper he excused himself.

Gideon cast a quick glance at Reid to see how his younger counterpart was interpreting the gesture. Reid seemed slightly confused but brushed off his confusion. He would consider the man's actions later when he didn't have so many new details to look over.

"We should head back to the station." Reid nodded as Gideon spoke and the two profilers made their way back to the their car and back to the police station to see what the others had come up with.

* * *

**Well that is the chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I introduced three people who could be the unsub. One of them is the unsub but I'm not saying who yet. I would love to hear your thoughts onwhich of the three you think it is. Just type your thoughts into a little review.**

** Let me repeat my earlier disclaimer: **

**Disclaimer 2: This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real world person is strictly coincidental. I've never been to Berkley University, let alone California so I am writing my story with no knowledge of the campus or the people who work there. I know no one who goes there and this story is in no way meant to tarnish that school's reputation. This story is not meant to slander the school in any way, shape, or form. I repeat it is a work of utter fiction and fantasy.**

**A new chapter should be up soon. Right now however I'm going to bed. It is 3:00 am here in Ohio andI have class at 10:00 am.**

**Night all,**

**Coldfire**


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